The men had been observed night fishing on the Sacramento River, using unlawful methods to catch sturgeon and catching and keeping more than their legal limit.

Two of the men were also observed selling the fish, leading to charges of poaching sturgeon for commercial use. The commercial harvest of white sturgeon in California has been illegal for 100 years.

"The commercial poaching of sturgeon was the cause of the species'
near-extinction in the early 1900s," said Kathy Ponting of the DFG Special
Operations Unit.

"One of these defendants sold a poached sturgeon for a mere $120.
That's a nominal fee compared to the substantial adverse biological,
social and economic effects associated with the illegal sale and
harvest of these fish," she added.

Four of the men -- Ivan Banatskiy, Andrey Bukaty, Sergey Solkalskiy and Serhiy Omelchuk -- entered guilty pleas, and one, Petr Kolosov, pleaded no contest. They were fined a combined $32,190 and four of the five received three years' probation, had their fishing
privileges revoked for the same length of time, and had to forfeit their fishing
gear. Omelchuk was fined for fishing without a license, but did not receive probation, have his gear confiscated or have his fishing privileges revoked.

Because California is a Wildlife Compact Member state, the men are
also barred from fishing in 30 other states.